is overclocking a graphics card worth it

[hmz007]

Hi
I'm stuck between buying a gtx670 and hd 7950. The only problem im having is deciding weather overclocking is worth it( if it is ill be going with the 7950)
I just want to know:
How much more performance will I get?
Will Overclocking void the warranty?
Will Overclocking decrease the life of the GC?

 

[Jaydip]

Ask the mods to move it in VCG

 

[Jacky60]

Short answer yes, yes and yes. A 7950 will pretty much reach 680 performance when fully overclocked.

 

[Smartazz]

I have a 7950 and overclocked they perform really well. They also consume a lot of power at high voltages and clock speeds.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

For most GPUs (in history) it hasn't been worth anything useful (with exceptions every now and then like GTX 4xx) but Radeon 7xxx and GTX 670+ are the first generation of cards where overclocking makes them a notch above what they are supposed to be. No other generation was half as good with oc before.

 

[phenomkid7]

Hi
I'm stuck between buying a gtx670 and hd 7950. The only problem im having is deciding weather overclocking is worth it

No.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Overclocking a GPU isn't really worth it IMO. You risk the chance of killing the card well before its time.
Sure overclocking can provide a nice performance boost, however, at your typical 1080p resolution, it'll hardly be noticeable.

That said, you can gain some decent performance from doing so. On some old 8800's I had, I managed to increase performance ~33% in single card configuration, and 26% in SLI.
Crysis went from ~14FPS average (DX9 max settings) to a fairly playable 25FPS.

So in the end, it's your choice whether or not you want to overclock it or not.

 

[Smartazz]

Overclocking a GPU isn't really worth it IMO. You risk the chance of killing the card well before its time.
Sure overclocking can provide a nice performance boost, however, at your typical 1080p resolution, it'll hardly be noticeable.

That said, you can gain some decent performance from doing so. On some old 8800's I had, I managed to increase performance ~33% in single card configuration, and 26% in SLI.
Crysis went from ~14FPS average (DX9 max settings) to a fairly playable 25FPS.

So in the end, it's your choice whether or not you want to overclock it or not.

I've ooverclocked 5 of my cards and not one of them died. With the 7950 it's very much worth it.

 

[Kenmitch]

It's worth it. Just get one with a nice cooler if your gonna overclock it.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Overclocking a GPU isn't really worth it IMO. You risk the chance of killing the card well before its time.
Sure overclocking can provide a nice performance boost, however, at your typical 1080p resolution, it'll hardly be noticeable.

That said, you can gain some decent performance from doing so. On some old 8800's I had, I managed to increase performance ~33% in single card configuration, and 26% in SLI.
Crysis went from ~14FPS average (DX9 max settings) to a fairly playable 25FPS.

So in the end, it's your choice whether or not you want to overclock it or not.

That's just under an 80% increase in average frame rates...

(78.6%)

 

[OmegaSupreme]

That's just under an 80% increase in average frame rates...

(78.6%)

That was the only game that saw much increase. The rest was only around 30%. Not bad for an 8800 GS though.

 

[KingFatty]

Overclocking is like stealing from the GPU manufacturers. Why would you think you deserve vastly improved performance, without having to pay for it?

If you want your 7950 to run like a 680, you should make a donation to AMD and NVidia for stealing that extra performance.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

It is definitely worth overclocking GPUs. If you are conservative with your overclocking and don't really push the clocks and voltages to the limit 24/7 it won't degrade the life of the GPU. Sure it might die in 5 years if you like to over volt it to the extreme but by that point you would have already bought something new.

The 7k AMD series of GPUs are fantastic overclockers and there isn't any reason not to do at least a stock voltage overclock on the 7950. 1GHz is easy on those beasts without any voltage adjustments. It also will not degrade the life of the GPU. My buddy runs his 7950 Gigabyte Windforce 3 cooler at a 1GHz core overclock and some memory overclock and it did not even increase the card's noise level in his case.

 

[Hubb1e]

Overclocking is like stealing from the GPU manufacturers. Why would you think you deserve vastly improved performance, without having to pay for it?

If you want your 7950 to run like a 680, you should make a donation to AMD and NVidia for stealing that extra performance.

Umm, they have overclocking tools in their own supported drivers...

 

[2is]

Most of the time, no.

 

[Fallengod]

I completely agree. Most of the time ocing GPU results in minor performance bump for vastly increased heat, lower life span, and voiding the warranty. It may be more relevant these days as I dont follow ocing of all the new models out now but in the past it was never really worth it for the most part. The main problem is, in order to see a benefit, youd need at least a 20-40 fps bump which is hard to achieve via overclocking.... Ive never been in the ocing video card mentality. OC the CPU and focus on that, leave the vid cards alone.

 

[p_o_s_pc]

Anymore overclocking the GPU isn't worth it like it used to be, unless you have a low-end GPU that is known to have a lot of headroom but the newer mid-high end ones aren't worth it.

 

[2is]

Overclocking is like stealing from the GPU manufacturers. Why would you think you deserve vastly improved performance, without having to pay for it?

If you want your 7950 to run like a 680, you should make a donation to AMD and NVidia for stealing that extra performance.

So by that same token, if I buy a $500 lens for my SLR and improve my pictures via some post processing in Photoshop, I should then donate another $500 to canon for not buying a $1000 lens instead? Becaue I'm "stealing" better images than the $500 lens is capable of taking on it's own?

 

[Smartazz]

It is definitely worth overclocking GPUs. If you are conservative with your overclocking and don't really push the clocks and voltages to the limit 24/7 it won't degrade the life of the GPU. Sure it might die in 5 years if you like to over volt it to the extreme but by that point you would have already bought something new.

The 7k AMD series of GPUs are fantastic overclockers and there isn't any reason not to do at least a stock voltage overclock on the 7950. 1GHz is easy on those beasts without any voltage adjustments. It also will not degrade the life of the GPU. My buddy runs his 7950 Gigabyte Windforce 3 cooler at a 1GHz core overclock and some memory overclock and it did not even increase the card's noise level in his case.

I actually managed to undervolt and overclock over 1GHz. Totally stable too. AMD is using too many stock volts for these now

 

[Shmee]

Yes it is generally worth it. Especially with the new 7xxx series AMD gpus

 

[VirtualLarry]

Overclocking is like stealing from the GPU manufacturers. Why would you think you deserve vastly improved performance, without having to pay for it?

If you want your 7950 to run like a 680, you should make a donation to AMD and NVidia for stealing that extra performance.

Reminds me of this classic thread:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=323358

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Overclocking is like stealing from the GPU manufacturers. Why would you think you deserve vastly improved performance, without having to pay for it?

If you want your 7950 to run like a 680, you should make a donation to AMD and NVidia for stealing that extra performance.

Ahhh . .. If "the subtle is sublime," then you're either making a good joke . . . or . . . What?! Are you crazy?!

You're stealing from yourself -- technically voiding the warranty, which you paid for in the purchase price, and possibly even shortening real expected product lifespan. And I could be crazy, too, for even bothering to post this . . . Fun and games . . . Fun and games . . .

Well, back to the question. It really didn't seem to make a big difference for my 8800 GTS. Instead, my inexperience caused me to misjudge stability. About once every couple weeks, the system would blue-screen, and I would troubleshoot about everything else and overlook that the RivaTuner or whatever was still installed on the system. I finally figured things out after choosing to review the 8800 GTS BFG product spec -- even verifying from my original sales receipt.

So I reset the damn thing to defaults and lived happily ever after.

I'd only guess you can get more noticeable performance improvement through over-clocked SLI, but it would seem to be a lot of trouble.

I've got the dated last-gen 570 GTX. I just don't see the need for the extra power consumption, when weighed against performance. I play a limited set of games, but I don't think I'm encountering much in the way of full CPU load or dropped frames . . . .

I"m happy . . . .

 

[GlacierFreeze]

I wouldn't OC a GPU unless I was also going to OC the CPU. And I wouldn't run them through the ceiling either.

 

[chimaxi83]

Its very worth it, especially when an average overclock easily beats more expensive Nvidia cards for less money.

 

[sangyup81]

Better off undervolting